From Chris Brown: RVP
Hi Myles,
Great website, I’m an ex-Londoner, now living in Sydney, Australia, and I still enjoy your daily updates over my morning coffee and have done ever since 2005 so please don’t give up!
My comment is that Van Persie heard the whistle alright, otherwise why would he take a powderpuff shot from so far out with no one around him?
Still it is not a yellow card especially not a sending off offence, you see it every week in the EPL, stikers like to take a shot when put through just to help find their range and increase their confidence.
We were outplayed though, no doubt about it but the sending off did affect our game plan of keeping it tight then bring on Arshavin and Bendtner once Barca were tired.
Arsenal have been very unlucky lately, put it in perspective. Why was Abidal not sent off for grabbing RVP around the throat?
Let’s bounce back aaginst Man Utd, no Nani in the team, let’s go for it!
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From Dave Ayres : RVP
Myles,
As much as I love the Arsenal, I have to disagree with most Gooner-written articles and no doubt suffer the wrath of the Arsenal faithful in saying that I think the referee got the decision correct in the case of RVP.
I have 2 reasons for this to present my case:
1) When you watch on playback the incident, you can clearly hear the referees whistle. Now the broadcaster would have had pitchside microphones, which would have been around the same distance from the referee as RVP was. Now you could argue that RVP was concentrating on the ball, but there is a very clear audible sound of the whistle.
2) RVP is now clear, in acres of space, no defenders around him, and looking up would have seen a “disinterested” goalkeeper standing there. Would you have not switched the ball to your stronger foot, and rolled the ball into the net? Why would you blast with your weaker foot if you wasn’t looking to waste time? I think that the plan was to put the ball within the vicinity of the goal, so he could claim he didn’t hear, and yet waste a few precious seconds while the ball is retrieved etc.
That plan went wrong. Maybe I am over-analysing, maybe I have the wrong end of the stick, but the more I see the incident, the more I think the referee got it right.
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From Alan Brooks :Van Persie
That new rule seemed to have passed me by Myles, offside becoming a sending off offence.
Shame Messi wasn’t sent off in the first leg when he put the ball in the net after being flagged offside.